What’s The Best Android Phone of 2016 So Far?

Last year - 2015 - was a pretty forgettable year in the mobile space. Everything looked and felt pretty incremental. Everybody was apparently playing it safe, releasing cookie-cutter updates of what they’d done in 2014, just with new internals and a few tweaks here and there.

Apple’s releases were dull. The Samsung Galaxy S6 was interesting, but problematic, and the less said about what HTC came to the table with the better. OnePlus did an OK job with the OnePlus 2 and the LG G4 was also adequate, but perhaps the best of all was Google’s Nexus 6P.

As I said: 2015 was a slow one.

This year could not have been more different, though. Innovation went through the roof with every man and his dog coming to the space with heavily updated, vastly superior offerings to the year before. Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG and Huawei have all been on fine form, releasing excellent hardware that makes last year’s gear look practically remedial.

So what are the best Android phones we’ve reviewed so far? Glad you asked: Here’s KYM’s pick of the best Android phones of 2016 so far.

The LG G5 is my favourite Android phone of the year so far. By quite some distance. A lot of people weren’t that into the handset, but that kind of makes it all the more appealing to me - I like stuff that’s divisive.

Out of all the phones I’ve tested this year, the LG G5 was the one I was genuinely sad about sending back. It looked and performed great and possesses one of the best cameras I have ever tested. God, I miss that wide-angle lens.

The module stuff was cool too, but is something of an aside to an otherwise very solid phone. LG is fast becoming one of my favourite Android phone makers. I like the way it’s not scared to do things differently and implement new technology on a whim. Sure, it’s risky. But fortune favours the brave and the LG G5 is by far one of the best phones on the planet right now.

Huawei phones are always well kitted out, and the P9 was NO exception. It too also benefits from a dual-camera setup, like the LG G5, and one of the most powerful SoCs on the planet in the form of Huawei’s home-made Kirin chipset, which delivers blazingly fast performance.

I was worried about the HTC 10. Very worried. I was even worried when I unboxed it and began my review. The reason was because, well, it kind of failed to do anything for me - it didn’t look that good and it didn’t really have any stand out features.

Or, so I thought. After a few days with the handset my opinion changed. This thing is brilliant, solid and extremely powerful. I love that HTC included HD audio as standard and I adore what the company has done with its Sense software, which is now easily the best Android skin in the business.

The HTC is probably my least favorite phone on the list, but it is still a solid performer across the board, so if you’re a fan of the brand then this, my friend, is the phone you have been patiently waiting for.